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BS News, YouTube Moneywise, and Yahoo Finance may earn commissions from links in this article. Some Chicago South and West Side homeowners are stunned by a new ordinance that raised their property taxes by an average of 98%, with certain neighborhoods experiencing spikes of up to 130%. Richard Townsell of North Lawndale received a bill reflecting a 75.86% hike; a friend’s bill surged 237%. Facing a due date of December 15 in Cook County, Townsell and his wife considered canceling a vacation to cover the unexpected expense, prompting him to act.

    Townsell organized a symbolic “bill‑burning” event, echoing the Boston Tea Party’s protest against taxation without representation. He argued that the sudden tax surge stems from numerous vacant downtown Chicago buildings. County Treasurer Maria Pappas explained that high‑rise commercial properties remain unoccupied after businesses left the city, forcing residents to shoulder the tax burden. “All those empty high‑rises are now being paid for by the community,” Pappas told CBS News.

    As executive director of the Lawndale Christian Development Corporation, Townsell sought more than complaints; he rallied neighbors to publicly burn their tax notices, drawing media attention to the inequity of homeowners outside the downtown core funding vacant commercial real estate. Their next goal may be to push for a 2% cap on property‑tax increases, mirroring California’s Proposition 13, enacted in 1978 to curb rapid tax rises.